The partnership, called AI², is one of TCU’s largest-ever research and technology commitments. AI² will enrich the student learning experience and career preparation by expanding responsible AI usage across campus, TCU said.
“AI is considered to be the fifth industrial stage in the world,” Reuben Burch, TCU’s vice provost for research, told the Star-Telegram. “There was fire and steel and now there’s AI. It’s on us that we need to include it for all faculty and students because there’s a world where they don’t use it, and they’re going to get left behind.”
The tool can be used to help faculty develop coursework and support learning activities, assist students with data analysis, modeling or other research tasks across all majors, and allow TCU to engage in AI research itself.
AI² will also allow TCU to have a fully operational in-house AI system that is regulated by the university and ensure the software’s protection. The systems use a hybrid model, with part of the AI infrastructure being on-campus and another part using cloud computing through Amazon Web Services.
“We have critical data that needs to stay local to TCU so that we can ensure its security and protection,” Burch said. “We have some data on that, while important, has fewer restrictions and therefore can be either on or off premise. The hybrid approach allows for flexibility — maximizing what we can do onsite without overexpanding before we need the resources.”
As AI becomes increasingly prominent among college students and higher education in general, university leadership noticed an increased responsibility to create an ethical and innovative avenue for AI in the learning space.
“The volume of AI-driven work and research on campus currently is impressive, and these investments will scale TCU’s capacity quickly, ethically and collaboratively,” said Floyd Wormley, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, in a news release. “It’s critical that we support the academic units with work underway and forge a path that empowers all TCU students, faculty and staff to leverage every innovation available to enhance our mission and make a lasting impact.”
The partnership is also a major step toward a broader university goal of achieving Research 1 status, the highest research ranking a university can receive from the Carnegie Classification for Institutions of Higher Education.
Texas has 16 R1 universities, including University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M, UT Arlington, the University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University, Baylor and several more.
“R1 status is a goal because it shows that not only are you excellent in teaching, which TCU has been for some time, but it also shows your research chops. It’s a recruiting tool for faculty and faculty are a recruiting tool for students, and it’s just a big point of pride.”
Colleges across the country have scrambled in recent years to regulate AI use. A number of professors and university leaders created anti-AI policies in class syllabi when Open AI’s ChatGPT first became relevant in 2023. Academic leaders feared the platform would enable increased academic dishonesty by feeding students answers to complex questions and solving them like a human would.
But more recently, schools have embraced AI as a way to supplement the learning experience. In 2024, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia became the first Ivy League institution to offer students a college major in AI when it created its Bachelor’s of Science in Engineering in Artificial Intelligence.
TCU expects to pilot early activity of the program by the end of the calendar year. In January, the university hopes to provide an update on the exact timing of a full campus rollout.
“All of the hardware is physically here on campus, and the IT team is moving quickly and effectively on installation, Burch said. “Beyond installing the equipment, we are also putting the right security protocols and usage processes in place to protect TCU research and ensure that everyone who needs access will have it.”
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